An important part of the training which the Parsler’s are attending in preparation for the inter-regionals is focussed on the health and fitness of the horse.  The team actually has it’s own nominated vet, equine physio and farrier all of whom looked over Talisman and Havannah at the recent training day.

One very important point made was that if you know your horses’ usual vital statistics – weight, resting heart rate and temperature – then you are able to quickly identify any changes which may indicate a problem.  For example, Havannah has  very low resting heart rate of around 28bpm.  If she had a heart rate of 36bpm at rest then we would become concerned even though this falls well within the parameters which are considered “normal”, as it represents a significant change for her.  All these vital statistics are essential guides to your horses well being and vary from individual to individual so it is important to know what is normal for your horse – not just what the book says.

Below is a link to an interesting article on using heart rate monitors for this purpose ……

http://www.distanceriding.org/php/articles/condition/RandR.pdf

You can also use a stethoscope to take heart rate – sometimes more reliable than electronic gadgetry – but do count over a full minute as you get a more accurate reading.  The other tools you need are a weight band (which can often be acquired free from feed suppliers) and a digital thermometer with vaseline!

Take your readings at a similar time and in similar circumstances each day so that you get a reasonable comparison.

This is an introductory video made by Endurance GB explaining about the sport. It offers a pretty good general explanation of the different levels and types of ride and has certainly whetted our appetite for greater things

Cooling your pony down effectively after the ride is essential for his well being.  Done properly it keeps him comfortable and prevents his heart having to do more work than necessary.

Most rides will have a vet check 20-30 minutes after you finish and this will usually include a heart rate check.  Even if a heart rate check is not obligatory in your class it is often possible to ask the vet to carry one out and it provides you with an excellent way of judging you horses fitness and how well he has coped with the ride.  You will soon get an idea of what is usual for your horse.

In general, where heart rate checks are done, in both EGB and pony club classes, the maximum heart rate acceptable for a pass is 64 beats per minute.  However, anything over 50 is normally considered quite high for a vetting 30 minutes after the event and may indicate either that you need to work on your ponies fitness a bit more or that you have not worked hard enough to cool him down properly after the ride. (Having said that I know of at least one very fit high level endurance race horse who always vets in around the mid 50’s – so knowing the norm for your horse is important)

Below is attached a guide to cooling your horse down which we wrote for pony club members attending senior camp this year. The advice has been pretty freely plagiarised from an article on the EGB site about cold water cooling by Dr David Marlin, and the pony club endurance riding book.  NB. Our guide is intended for novices doing fairly short distances (or other pony/riding club level events) and has therefore been simplified somewhat based on our own experience and advice we have received from other endurance riders.  If you are doing higher level events – particularly in hot climates then we would advise you to read Dr Marlin’s full article.

cooling-down-horses

In the vast majority of endurance rides, including non competitive/pleasure rides, you will be expected to complete the course at no slower than a set minimum speed. Many also have a maximum set speed. Failure to complete the ride within these speeds will result in elimination even if you have correctly navigated the course and pass the vet at the end. It is therefore extremely important to be able to plan your ride so that you complete the course on time.

The simplest way to do this is to use your ride map (which will arrive a few days prior to the event) to work out how long it should take you at the appropriate speed to get to certain landmarks around the route. Check points are an obvious choice but can be a bit far apart on some rides and are not often equally spaced so that it is useful to pick a few spots in between for your speed/time checks too.

Ride maps are usually 1:50000 scale (but will be clearly marked if not) so the simplest way to judge the distance between certain points is to lay a piece of string along the route and then measure it against the map scale. You can then work out the time you should take to get there by using the formula time=distance/speed.

Alternatively you can use our handy dandy ready reckoner – click below to open PDF.

speed-matrix

We would recommend that you work out the time, three times for each point – once at the minimum ride speed, once at the maximum ride speed and once for a mid range speeed. (For a lot of novice rides and under current PC rules this will be 8kmph minimum, 12 kmph maximum and 10kmph mid-range but always check your ride rules as they can vary a fair bit.) You should plan to arrive back at the mid-range speed or slightly faster as this gives you plenty of time in hand either way should something go wrong.

Times should be witten on your map (we use a post it) and listed as total time from the start to that point – that way you can set your watch to 12.00 when you set off and it makes it very easy to chack your progress as you go round.

It is also good policy to plan your ride so that you start faster and come in at a more relaxed pace. Not only will getting some time in hand at the start give you more to play with if you do have problems later on; but finishing at a slower pace gives the horse the best chance of recovering well for the final vetting. Study your ride map carefully to look for places where you will be able to make up a bit of speed and others where you might have to slow down.

Good planning of your ride before hand will make it more enjoyable for both of you.

One of the central skills needed for successful endurance riding is the ability to read a map accurately – and being able to do it whilst the map is upside down, dripping wet, blowing in the gale force winds or on a side-stepping dancing pony!

Not all routes are clearly marked (as we found out to our cost at Windsor – not their fault, the Queen is apparently a bit iffy about spray paint all over her back garden. and it is particularly easy to get lost when routes for different length rides cross each other.

Whaddon Chase has therefore decided to run the Pony Club map reading badge as part of its endurance training this summer. Attached below are a couple of useful guides from the Ordanance Survey that Nesta found and which we thought might be of help to all our “diary” readers. NB. These are both biggish files so may take a while to download.

map-symbols

mapreadingmadeeasypeasy21